Delivery Driver Accident – A Guide to Claiming Compensation

Working as a delivery driver or courier can be a role laden with daily risks. You might not realise it but if you’re injured while making a delivery and your employer or someone else is to blame for the accident in some way, you might be entitled to claim compensation. This guide about claiming compensation for a delivery driver accident will show you when you might be entitled to claim compensation and how the claims process works. Also, we provide some information on how much compensation delivery drivers could be awarded following an accident at work.

We can help delivery drivers to claim compensation. Firstly, we will review your claim on a no-obligation basis. You’ll be offered free legal advice in the call and the chances of you being compensated will be explained. If a delivery driver accident claim appears to be feasible, one of our No Win, No Fee solicitors may offer to support you.

To talk to us about a delivery driver compensation claim, you can:

• Call us on 0333 241 2519 now.
• Ask questions via our live chat service.

Read on for more on how we can help with delivery driver accident claims or give us a call if you think of any questions.

Who Is Responsible for Delivery Driver Safety?

If you use a delivery vehicle that is owned by your employer, they are normally responsible for your safety while you’re out making deliveries. If you are using your own vehicle, generally, you will be responsible for your safety but with some caveats.

For instance, if you are injured while you are out of your vehicle, your employer might be responsible for any accidents that happen if they’ve not trained you on how to lift heavy loads safely or deal with dogs or if they’ve not provided you with the right safety equipment.

Additionally, other road users may be responsible for your safety if they cause an accident due to driving negligently.

As you can see, it’s not always clear who is responsible for the safety of delivery drivers. This means that delivery drivers who want to make personal injury claims may want to seek legal advice about their options before proceeding. If this is the case, please feel free to call our legal advisors for free guidance.

Can I Make a Delivery Driver Accident Claim?

The following points will normally need to be proven if a delivery driver or courier is to be paid compensation following an accident at work:

• The defendant in your case owed you a legal duty of care.
• The delivery driver was involved in an accident caused by the defendant in the last three years.
• As a result of the accident, the delivery driver was injured.

With regard to proving that a duty of care existed, here are some examples:

• Your employer owes you a duty of care because of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
• Other road users have a duty of care to act in a way that prevents accidents and injuries i.e. adhering to the Highway Code.
• Local authorities and other agencies have a duty of care to have a proper program in place to inspect and repair roads because of the Highways Act 1988.

If you’d like a legal advisor to clarify your chances of being paid compensation for an accident as a delivery driver, please call us now.

What Types of Delivery Driver & Courier Accident Claims Can We Help With?

Some examples of the types of accidents that delivery drivers and couriers can be involved in that we can help claim compensation for include:

• Suffering a head injury after parcels fell onto them because of damaged racking.
• Where a delivery driver sustains a slipped disc at work while carrying heavy loads because of a lack of manual handling training.
• Tripping on a pavement and sustaining a broken ankle because of a missing kerbstone.
• Where a delivery driver is struck by another vehicle while unloading their van because the other driver failed to slow down while passing.
• If a delivery rider is thrown from their moped and suffers a back injury at work because of a large pothole.
• Where a delivery driver is trapped by falling parcels in a warehouse because they had been stacked unsafely.
• If a delivery driver sustains whiplash after being rear-ended by another vehicle at traffic lights.

Even if we haven’t described your delivery driver accident here, please call our legal advisors to review what happened. You’ll be given free legal advice and your options will be clearly explained.

What Should I Do If I Sustain Whiplash as a Delivery Driver?

If you are unfortunate enough to sustain whiplash whilst making deliveries, it’s important to ensure your safety, protect your legal rights, and address the incident appropriately. As such you should:

• Swap details with anyone else who is involved in the accident.
• Tell your employer about the incident and your whiplash injury as soon as you can and ask for a copy of the accident report.
• Ensure your whiplash is checked and treated at a hospital or minor injuries unit.
• Call the emergency services if anyone is seriously injured in the road traffic accident.

As well as ensuring the right people are aware of your accident and your whiplash injury, taking the steps above will arm you with some of the evidence you’ll need if you decide to claim compensation for a delivery driver accident.

What Evidence Can Be Used for Delivery Driver/Courier Accident Claims?

It is quite likely that an insurance company will handle your claim regardless of who was responsible for your accident. Therefore, you must be able to convince them about why the defendant was responsible for the accident and how you’ve suffered as a result.

Some examples of evidence that might strengthen delivery driver compensation claims include:

• Details of any potential witness in case you need statements later on in the claims process.
• Medical records to help prove the extent of your injuries.
• Photographs taken from the accident scene especially if they show the cause of the accident scene or any vehicle damage.
• CCTV or dashcam footage.
• Police reference numbers.
• Details of other vehicles involved in the accident.
• Copies of your employer’s accident report form where available.

If you believe you’ve got grounds to claim compensation following a delivery driver accident, why not call and let us assess the evidence for free?

How Long Do I Have to Claim Personal Injury Compensation?

The legal time limit for personal injury claims in the UK is 3 years. This is a stipulation of the Limitation Act 1980 and normally starts from the date of the delivery driver accident or from the date you became aware of injuries related to the accident. This is particularly relevant if an injury developed symptoms some time after the accident.

Wherever possible, we’d suggest that it’s a good idea to begin a delivery driver accident claim early because it may take a while to gather evidence and prepare your claim before it’s filed.

If you start a delivery driver accident claim too late, you could miss out on any compensation you might be entitled to.

How Much Compensation for a Delivery Driver Accident Claim?

Delivery driver compensation payouts are largely based on the extent of your injuries. General damages (the first element of any settlement) cover pain, suffering and also loss of amenity.

To prove how your injuries have affected you, your solicitor might refer to previous cases that are similar in nature and collect hospital medical records as well as independent medical reports. They’ll use this information to compare your injuries to those listed in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).

Should your claim be successful, your settlement could also consist of special damages to compensate for the financial impact of your injuries. This part of your payout could cover:

• Medical treatment costs.
• Travel expenses.
• Loss of income from your delivery job and future loss of earnings.
• Property replacement costs.
• The cost of adapting a vehicle (or your home) to make things easier if your accident as a delivery driver has led to a disability.

If you have suffered following a delivery driver accident and would like to know how much compensation you might be entitled to, please call our legal advisors.

Do You Need a Solicitor for Delivery Driver Injury Claims?

Most delivery driver accident claims are handled by insurance companies. As such, they may try to contest your claim or settle it with a lower amount of compensation than you really deserve. While you’re not obliged to take on legal representation from an accident-at-work solicitor, it can really make the claims process easier to deal with. It may also mean that you’ll receive a higher level of compensation.

If you make a delivery driver claim with one of our solicitors, they’ll handle the whole of your claim for you including any negotiations.

Crucially, you’ll benefit from a No Win, No Fee service too if your delivery driver injury claim is taken on. If that happens, the contract you’ll sign is called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Using a CFA means:

• Your solicitor won’t be paid for their work upfront.
• If the claim fails, you don’t pay your solicitor.
• If the compensation claim is won, a success fee will be deducted from your settlement.

The success fee is a pre-agreed percentage of your settlement as listed in the CFA. However, for your protection, the maximum success fee percentage is 25 per cent so you can rest assured that you won’t be giving away too much of your settlement.

To see if we could help you make a No Win, No Fee delivery driver accident claim, please call our legal advisors now.

Will the Claim Go to Court?

Most insurers and solicitors want to avoid potentially costly and time-consuming court hearings when settling delivery driver claims. Therefore, they’ll usually negotiate with each other to settle claims amicably. This is what happens in the vast majority of work-related injury claims in our experience.

However, a solicitor may use a court hearing as a last resort if:

• Liability for the delivery driver/courier accident can’t be agreed upon.
• A settlement offer is deemed to be too low.

Realistically, personal injury solicitors will do all they can to settle out-of-court but will book a hearing if they strongly believe that the case is solid and can’t be settled any other way.

How Long Do Delivery Driver Accident Claims Take?

There is no set duration for personal injury or accident at work claims. That’s because each claim is different and several factors will need to be considered.

While it is possible to be compensated for your injuries in 4 to 5 months, this is only likely if you sustained injuries that have fully healed and the defendant in your case takes responsibility for the accident right away.

If there are any objections raised, negotiations needed or any concerns about your prognosis, the claims process can take up to a year or more in some cases.

Crucially, if liability has been accepted but your delivery driver accident claim is still going to take a long time, you could receive interim compensation payments before the case is settled in full.

Contacting Us About a Delivery Driver Accident Claim

If you’ve been injured whilst working as a delivery driver and would like to claim compensation for your suffering, you can:

• Call our legal advisors on 0333 241 2519 to find out about your options.
• Use our online chat service to ask any questions you might have.

When you contact us, your claim will be reviewed by a specialist for free. If it looks like you have a good chance of success, you could be connected with one of our solicitors. If they agree to help, your delivery driver accident claim will be managed on a No Win, No Fee basis.